After electronics and apparel Flipkart focuses on wearables

Going by the current popularity of wearables such as smart watches, bands, shoes or other tracking accessories, Flipkart is expecting the category to become the largest for gifting during the next festive season.Surabhi Agarwal | ET Bureau | October 29, 2015, 08:50 IST

Going by the current popularity of wearables such as smart watches, bands, shoes or other tracking accessories, Flipkart is expecting the category.After electronics and apparel, wearables is the next frontier for the country’s largest etailer Flipkart. Going by the current popularity of wearables or Internet of Things devices such as smart watches, bands, shoes or other tracking accessories, Flipkart is expecting the category, which was launched just three months ago, to become the largest for gifting during the next festive season.

Flipkart is investing heavily in building this category and is expecting many more products to be added to its catalogue over the coming months, said Ankit Nagori, chief business officer of Flipkart. “People are shopping for these products not just for their own use, but as a gift option in huge numbers,” he added.

Nagori said that while the most popular among wearables are smart watches and fitness bands, other devices which find usage for threat detection for homes, safety of women, elders and children etc, are also finding great adoption. “We are selling shoes which have built-in technology to track if the person wearing them has walked enough, it starts vibrating if the person has been idle for too long,” said Nagori.

While the company is currently selling over 1,000 products from over 100 brands in this category, products such as the Moto 360, Alcatel Smartwatch, Samsung Gear Live, Goqii Smartband and Moov Now Smartband are among the top selling.

Flipkart claims that during the ‘Big Billion Days’ the company sold 100 times of its average daily sales in the wearables category and expects this to grow five times in next six months.

“While Smartwatches and Smartbands are taking the Indian market by storm, demand for newage products like smart notifiers and activity trackers have increased substantially,” said Nagori. Consumers are open to investing in products which will ensure their own or family’s health and safety be it pet animals, children, women or elders.

When it comes to the festive season, traditionally the top-selling categories include apparel, imitation jewellery, large appliances, electronics etc. The company said that during its recent week-long sale called ‘Big Billion Days’ it was taken by surprise by the popularity of IoT devices.

Some other products such as air fryers, air purifiers, popcorn makers, doughnut makers etc are also recent surprise additions to the traditional buying list.

However, mobile phones continued to be the top selling products during the sale.